Targeted turnaround: Saucony's EMEA VP on leveraging heritage for modern growth

Europe is currently experiencing a significant and enduring surge in running, fueled by factors like the post-pandemic focus on health, the emergence of Gen Z, and the increasing popularity of social run clubs. This robust trend offers an opportunity for brands with a heritage rooted in running. However, to harness this resurgence in a sustainable manner, they must first recalibrate their approach.

Saucony is one of those names outpacing the broader market. The business is continuing to transform under the scope of a considered and deliberate strategic rollout. Its turnaround in Europe is being guided by Cameron Black, vice president and general manager of Saucony Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), who was appointed to the role with the task of leveraging and capitalising on the brand’s heritage and reviving it for a younger, fashion-focused consumer.

Prior to Saucony, Black had been general manager of Hoka under Deckers Brands, and had served as a key player in the footwear label during a period of acceleration. Upon Black’s initial appointment, Hoka had been bringing in around 140 million dollars globally, and by the time he left it was approaching the two and a half billion dollar mark. Black saw a similar opportunity for growth and revival at Saucony, a heritage label founded in 1898 that had been in decline under its parent group, Wolverine Worldwide.

Since Black’s appointment nearly three years ago, however, there has already been a significant change. In the American footwear giant’s most recent financial report for the fiscal year 2025, Saucony was credited with driving group performance, with sales amounting to 533.1 million euros, a 31.14 percent uptick on the year prior.

“The momentum behind Saucony right now, particularly in Europe, is pretty unrivalled,” Black said. “We’ve managed to turn around a brand that a retailer had once called ‘dusty’ into a one it now describes as ‘radical’. That’s really been my journey to now with Saucony, and it’s a really exciting time to be a part of the brand.”

The Move Makers and an activation marketing format

Black’s first steps at Saucony centred around the implementation of a brand-building model, while also shifting focus towards a specific consumer group in the 25 to 35 year old range. Internally dubbed the ‘Move Makers’, the audience is trend-conscious and fashion-leading, marking a departure from an inherently sports-centric positioning and moving Saucony closer to its mission of blending performance and lifestyle.

In targeting this group, a change in perception was needed and ultimately achieved by moving marketing spend away from sales activation, trade marketing and lower-funnel conversion, which had accounted for 97 percent of the budget, primarily towards brand activation, which now makes up 65 percent of the budget.

“That singular focus has allowed us to over-invest in that consumer group, and in doing so, transformed the perception of the brand,” Black said. “Saucony has become younger, cooler, and more trend-driven, and that consumer group is now creating a halo effect across broader demographics as well. Whether the group were buying lifestyle or performance products, we treated them as one unified customer. We see Saucony at the intersection of running culture, lifestyle and performance, so we didn’t want to separate audiences for each category.”

London as the blueprint for wider expansion

This approach extended into European rollout, for which London became the first and primary focus for Saucony in 2024. The challenge, Black said, was growing what was a relatively small brand within a setting dominated by companies boasting enormous budgets and resources. Around 70 percent of the brand’s European marketing spend therefore went towards London alone, with community marketing in particular taking centre stage.

“Our teams are deeply connected to those communities, they’re part of them, and in many ways, they are the target consumer themselves,” Black explained. “We restructured the organisation around that idea.”

Two significant initiatives took shape in London, which eventually formed a blueprint for how the brand is planning and expanding into new markets. The Saucony 10K is a core pillar. The event’s London edition launched in 2024, and this year sold out with over 20,000 runners taking part. Participants were firmly rooted in Saucony’s target group and also participated in smaller activations like the Shoreditch Run Club, creating a community from people in need of a physical space.

Covent Garden was then selected as the site for the brand’s debut UK flagship, chosen for its strong footfall and central location. The two storey space is described as a “cultural hub” for this running community, where the brand’s heritage is emphasised across a multifunctional setting. “The store is doing exactly what we hoped it would do; it has become a genuine community hub for the brand in London,” Black said.

The location built on Saucony’s small presence in the UK, where it already operated an outlet store in Cannock. Akin to the post-pandemic strategies of other retailers, this site responded to the need to deal with excess inventory in a clean, effective way, but is not central to how Saucony is growing in the present day. “We obviously want those outlets to perform well, but from a broader retail perspective our focus is on ensuring that the Paris and London flagship spaces are doing their job in building the brand,” Black said.

Nearly a year on from its regional store debut, Saucony has found a solid base in the UK. “Next year, we’re on track to grow the UK market to five times what it was in 2024,” Black reported. “That acceleration has come from over-investing in year one and then continuing that investment over time, with the store playing a central role in driving awareness and hosting weekly activations.”

The Parisian Pioneer Hub

Saucony has since been translating the London blueprint for Paris, where the company held its first 10K event in December and is currently preparing for the opening of its ‘Pioneer Hub’ flagship. Due to launch in August, the five-floor building combines retail, showrooms, event spaces, and offices, creating a multifaceted hub where teams working on the Parisian market will also be based, “creating a much deeper connection between the brand and the community”, Black noted.

Activations will then extend into Paris Men’s Fashion Week, with the hub to play host to an inaugural event during the January 2027 edition. Involvement in the fashion week is imperative to Saucony’s mission of repositioning as a “true run-lifestyle brand”. ”We’re fortunate because Saucony has such a rich archive of products,” Black added. “We can draw from different eras and trends, from the 70 right through to today. At this point, we genuinely see ourselves as equally a lifestyle and performance running brand.”

Even before the hub’s opening, Saucony’s popularity in France had already soared. To test the market, the brand opened various Parisian pop-ups, introducing its running-focused concept to the local consumer base. As a result, Saucony saw interest in its running category rise 487 percent in France, largely driven by Paris-based consumers, making the city one of Saucony’s key global cities, alongside London, New York and Tokyo.

This has also been reflected in the response to the product. The “running-inspired” Omni 9 shoe, for example, has become the brand’s top selling silhouette, welcoming a 1,400 increase in clicks-to-page in the UK over the past year. The lifestyle category, meanwhile, is also up 4,500 percent in impressions, an ode to the team’s ability to craft products for their consumer base, with attention to colour, aesthetic, and shape, while maintaining a global perspective.

How these products are then rolled out onto the shop floor is integral. In Covent Garden, where the consumer demographic is largely defined by tourism traffic, Saucony has found that shoppers lean towards comfort and cushioning, rather than racier, speed-oriented running styles. Black suspects Paris may differ.

“It’s a far more fashion-oriented district, and other brands in the area also lean heavily into lifestyle positioning. We expect the Paris consumer to align even more closely with our Move Maker profile – a fashion-oriented but still active consumer.”

A market-by-market approach

This thought-out rollout is prevalent in many of Saucony’s decisions, including in which markets it is looking to move into next. “What’s important for us is that when we enter a city, we do it properly. We don’t want to stretch our budgets so thin that we can’t execute at the level we want to,” Black said.

Berlin has been identified as a secondary priority market, as reflected in plans to host the city’s inaugural Saucony 10K, due to take place June 20. The event was described by Black as the “first major step in over-investing into Germany with a sustained long-term strategy”, which can now be made without sacrificing investment elsewhere. “In fact, we’ve continued increasing investment in both London and Paris,” Black noted.

Next year, Saucony will then begin introducing similar activations in Milan. Akin to the UK, Saucony already operates a number of outlets in Italy, yet by applying its staple blueprint for market rollout, further plans for the region are likely underway. “Retail is definitely part of that blueprint, but we’re taking it one step at a time,” Black said.

This mindset is notable in a global market that has been relatively hesitant to fully embrace retail. However, as Black underlines, physical spaces are imperative to Saucony, particularly as it looks to cater to consumers seeking real-life experiences. “A major part of our strategy is becoming part of the communities we serve,” Black said. “To do that effectively, you need a physical location where consumers can gather and engage with the brand. That’s why Paris, London and future stores in key cities are such an integral part of the strategy.”

The scale of this retail footprint isn’t important, Black notes before reaffirming there isn’t a massive rollout plan on the horizon. “What matters is having a presence in the right key cities, and being very intentional about where and how we show up,” he concluded.